As stated previously, it doesn't do anything for balancing. Actually, inline 4-cylinder engines aren't considered among the smoothest engine designs. In fact, larger ones, such as in the Porsche 944s had balance shafts that were meant to offset the funky vibrations and harmonics that these engines were creating. Porsche had to pay royalties to Mitsubishi for this technology, who held the patent on it at the time. (See, Germans don't think of everything :wink: ) The balance shafts have toothed gears, and timing marks because need to be properly timed in order to do their job.
Even if you got rid of the shaft, you'd have to figure out a way to reroute the belt so that it wraps far enough around each of the pullies to prevent slipping, and do something about vacuum. The Audi and Volvo (VW) 5 and 6-cylinder diesels used a small vacuum pump driven off a pulley on the back of the cam.
Topic: No counter shaft (Read 2210 times)
